Tranny cooler....
will the aftermarket thermostat help to lower the temp?
All cheap mods for good effects.
BTW, do you guys know where I could find a decent price on the tranny cooler? Appreciate it.
www.summitracing.com
just to list a couple
Per Tiny's mention above, PepBoys
Just about any autoparts store online...
I thought those caps are for the look.
Does tranny cooler have an integral thermostat that allows cooling only after fluid reaches an optimum temp?
If not, tranny fluid will not reach optimum temp on a cool day.
You are simply putting an extra cooling device in the path of tranny fluid on its way from the radiator back to the tranny.
During city (stop and go or performance) driving, "optimum" temp in a tranny is obtained in a few minutes and is then quickly surpassed......The tranny cooler wont "over-cool" the fluid, it is in place to help keep the optimum oil temp...
The Hayden web-site states that every 20 degree drop in transmission temp can double the life of the transmission.
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Thanks for the writeup tinygs! Based on what I read here I've decided on the Hayden cooler as well and it's sitting in my garage waiting to be installed over the weekend.
Peter
As for the tranny cooler, I can imagine it will be an even bigger help for a GS with OVER 320RWHP!!!!! Im jealous...
I have tried 4 different trans coolers on my and a friends GS4.
We have found that a large unit WILL impede the cooling capabilities in hot weather (100+) along with any type of semi aggressive driving. In fact the needle went straight to below red on both cars. Remember that the trans cooler gets very hot and the air pushes this heat right into the radiator. Also many of these generic coolers use cheap tie straps to connect it to the radiator once again providing heat transfer straight into the cooling system.
I have tried Imperial, Hayden, and two different B&M coolers.
I finally went with the polished B&M racing cooler, anodized connectors and polished steel lines instead of rubber hoses all of the place. Brackets keep the cooler from the radiator for even more cooling. The steel lines were pre-bent for the GS. A very clean and custom look without the negative effects of thrown together kits.
If anyone is interested in pics I can post them.
Can you post a link to info on the web about this B&M product? I've not heard of that or them before. And it's custom made for the GS? If so, that's cool. One other question - why will it not suffer from heating the radiator also like the others?
This unit is only 11x4.5 vs 11x7-11" for other models. This way it does not block the radiator as much as the other units do. The unit is thicker than most. 1.5" vs .75 for others. So it certainly does the job of cooling. I will post a picture later on since I'm doing an install for a friends 99 GS this evening.
Oh and yes this is a custom kit.
FWIW: I've had a couple of 95 degree days and haven't seen the problems you've mentioned.
OTOH having custom pipes for the cooler sounds niiice.
With a large Hayden cooler, it dropped down to 165-177 under the same conditions, but the coolant temp. went straight up to before redline. The large units cover a large portion of the radiator ,and while the radiator is expecting cool fresh air, it is instead getting hot trans cooler air. It goes without saying that this is with the cooler mounted in front of the radiator. With the newer smaller yet thicker unit I'm running without the cheasy tie strapes and associated heat transfer, I run a consistent 161-173 under hard conditions with no coolant temp issues. Your size should not give you any issues as you stated. Curious, where did you mount yours.
Up top or down below? We have found that mounting down below behind the front lower skirt gives slightly better performance.
It was on average a 3 degree difference. Instead I opted to mount it behind the front grill for accessibility to the connectors (no hose clamps) and it looks sweet through the grill.
Last edited by Pearlpower; Dec 27, 2002 at 12:14 AM.







